The mounts themselves don't cost anything extra, if that's what you're asking. They're masteries included in the expansion that you get just by playing. Visual skins are inevitable in the gem store, but none of those would be required since you'll already get the actual mounts in-game.

There are three editions with various extras, but each includes the core game and PoF. If you don't have HoT yet, that's also available at a bundled discount.

Only if you're terribly literal. A game can be fantastic but still have population issues.

The game itself IS great: tons of fun, lots of mobility, runs great even on older hardware, etc. But it has a smaller playerbase because of some issues like too many game modes (fracturing) and the (not really deserved) leftover baggage of TF1.

Absolutely open world, yep. "GTA with LEGO" is a spot-on way to wrap your head around it, even if there are (obvious) differences. There's the city/world space to wander around, and the missions are more what you're used to from TT games: it's a really nice combination.

Lots of posts online about folks not being able to re/install this anyway (just check out its Steam page) so this release is unfortunately pointless for a lot of people. That includes me: I'd love to give it another try, but that small hiccup of not being able to install it correctly is a bit of a roadblock.

In an unusual turn of events, prosecutors also tracked down four of the site’s most heavy downloaders. They too were given prison sentences of one month each and are required to settle with rightsholders.